Defamation on internet forums, blogs and other social media could very easily slip out of control turning company’s reputation from brilliant to nasty. Typically, a single customer will post defamation against a company on various internet forums to create a false impression of general dissatisfaction.
Often this type of action becomes self- fulfilling prophecy. Our advice is to act fast and have the defamation removed from the internet quickly.
Before responding to a negative review or to online defamation, remember that whatever you say may have a huge impact on your organisation’s long term reputation and in the case of a public company even on its share prices. The million dollar question is whatever defamatory reviews or derogatory false forum comments should be ignored, responded to or dealt with in another way.
The decision should be strategic and take account of the likely consequences of each action or inaction. You must also consider what message you wish to send out to consumers, investors and other stakeholders. Is it in your organisation best interest to publicly respond to false allegations on the internet or perhaps your company’s long term interest will be better served by taking a tougher, uncompromising approach? Is defamation on the internet a matter for your public relations department or perhaps you should seek independent specialist legal advice. Whichever way you answered this question , don’t be a gambler. Remember that the internet is still very unpredictable.
It is likely that we have already dealt with a similar issue to yours so search our internet law resources or call us on 0207 183 4123 to speak to one of our internet law specialist lawyers.
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